Sharing centre stage with nature, it's all magic to her

Dame Kiri ... "I don't make political statements - you need daring to do that."

Diversification has given the famed soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa a new love of performance, writes Bryce Hallett.

For many years one of the world's best known sopranos, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, has enjoyed singing in the great outdoors, undaunted by any rivalry offered by nature.

"I'm moving away from opera performance and I like to make a big occasion of it when I sing," she says. "I have performed in exotic and marvellous situations in Turkey and Korea, and in the Australian outback for the bicentennial celebrations in 1988 - that was truly magical."

Te Kanawa is taking time out from her nomadic work schedule at her home in New Zealand ahead of three "occasions" in Australia: first in the Barossa Valley on Saturday, then the Hunter Valley to celebrate the opening of a new multimillion-dollar winery, then the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.

The soprano was most recently on the opera stage in a season of Samuel Barber's Vanessa in Washington for Placido Domingo ("He's doing a great job," she says of the tenor and artistic chief) but admits that she is more inclined to give concerts and recitals these days. Don't, however, jump to the conclusion that retirement is rapidly approaching.

"I will know when it's time and I can tell you it's not now," she insists. "I have an incredibly full life. I feel I can't fit everything that I want to do in ... My musical interests are quite diverse and I'm keen to try new things. Sometimes it doesn't work out but it's important to try. I pride myself on good taste and judgement and I'm surrounded by people who will tell me how my performance went. I will ask, 'Was it good tonight?' and they won't hesitate for a second in giving me a reply. I love to sing Puccini, Mozart, Gershwin and Lloyd Webber. I've also recently added some Maori songs."");document.write("

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For her Australian concerts Te Kanawa will be accompanied by the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robin Stapleton. She expects the Hunter Valley performances will be akin to a fun-filled picnic, an event combining a food and wine fair with arias and the splendour of green rolling hills, thanks to recent rainfall.

Te Kanawa, who was born in 1944 and grew up in seaside Gisborne in New Zealand, says Britain is her second home, a place where she has many close friends and feels happy and secure.

"My attachment to England has a lot to do with my singing; it's where I developed my career and most of my knowledge of music has come from there. I am full of praise for the quality of teaching in London and I try to help young students from time to time when I can. There's an opera factory in Auckland where young people come to learn - it's not the least bit formal or off-putting and I really like that idea."

In 1971, at Covent Garden, Te Kanawa made her debut as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, a performance that catapulted her into the spotlight, as would her appearance at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana a decade later. On the strength of that "cameo" alone, in which she sang Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim, her profile soon equalled that of Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti combined.

"It was odd, you know, but when Diana died it was the night of my wedding anniversary and I was going through my own huge problems. It was incredibly poignant and all I can remember thinking was, 'What will those poor boys [Prince William and Prince Harry] be going through - it's just so sad.' It put my own situation in perspective."

Te Kanawa's marriage with Des Park, whom she married in 1967, ended six years ago, and since that time she's immersed herself in music and performance, and the business of establishing the Dame Kiri Foundation, a charitable organisation to assist young students in their varying pursuits.

Young people are our future, she says, and an investment in a stable, sane future. The soprano is happy to talk about philosophies and ideas but stops short of weighing into subjects about which she knows little. This, of course, hasn't stopped many a celebrity from airing their views but it's just not the diplomatic diva's way.

"I don't make political statements - you need daring to do that and it's not my place to talk publicly about politics. Singing is what I do best and I try not to be dragged into certain issues ... Music can take our minds off all the nasties." On that high note, the soprano leaves her interviewer wanting more.